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Human skeletal remains from prehistoric Chile's semi-arid north were analyzed using the Western Hemisphere Health Index to ascertain if subsistence change from gathering/hunting to agriculture was accompanied by a decline in physiological stress as measured by common skeletal stress markers for these coastal populations. Individuals analyzed dated to the Archaic (c. 7000 BC-200 AD, n=95) and Diaguita (c. 1000-1536 AD, n=75) periods. The Archaic individuals practiced gathering and hunting subsistence, relying on desert and ocean resources. The Diaguita practiced a subsistence strategy including agriculture, food collecting from the Pacific, and camelid pastoralism. As per health index methodology, seven indicators were scored (stature, linear enamel hypoplasia, dental disease, cribra orbitalia/porotic hyperostosis, infection, degenerative joint disease, and trauma). Results indicated equal health index values for both samples, although there were some differences in individual indicator values. The risk of having any pathology did not increase with age-at-death. Essentially, health as measured by common stress markers did not vary substantially after subsistence change. Such results are further evidence that the hypothesis of a health decline after subsistence change to agriculture is not always demonstrated, and it is important to elucidate what buffering variables beyond diet, to include cultural adaptations, may be at play.

For bioarchaeological studies, a common approach to estimating stature is via regression formulae that are based on the scaling of skeletal elements relative to overall height. Both stature and the proportions of contributing elements may be affected by biocultural and ecological factors, and thus, it is generally preferable to apply population‐specific formulae when possible. Within bioarchaeology, the establishment of population‐specific regression formulae is complicated by the need to base formulae on a sufficiently large number of individuals for which all skeletal elements contributing to stature can be measured. Yet disciplinary conventions within bioarchaeology suggest the need for sample sizes that are larger than typical within related fields, and it is thus possible that disciplinary status quo has led to a systematic bias in the literature toward larger sites, regions with relatively good preservation, and populations associated with these aspects. To investigate the efficacy of combined‐sex stature regression formulae based on relatively small samples, this study calculated population‐specific formulae based on long bone length for 22 individuals from a late medieval Old Prussian cemetery at Bezławki, Poland. The relationship between stature and each of the predictor elements/measurements considered was strong, particularly for maximum femoral length (r = 0.976). For the latter measurement, a sample size as small as 18 produced accurate and precise stature estimates. Further, the Bezławki‐specific formula based on maximum femoral length provided estimates of the stature that performed better than or similar to formulae based on larger populations, supporting that population‐specific formulae may be warranted, even when based on small samples.

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